Sunday, April 15, 2007

Opera, Anyone?

A Regional Chronology of Operas, Composers and Librettists
By Peter McKenzie-Brown

This is not meant to be a complete list of Western operas - thousands have been written and performed. Some are on this popular list because of their reputation only; most, however, are operas I have enjoyed on stage, film or DVD. Taken together, this list probably covers more than 95% of those produced around the world in a typical year. In that sense only - as a popular compendium of the great and the good - this list is complete.

The inclusion of Les Miserables will be controversial among opera purists. So will others.Although this work has the dramatic depth and emotional intensity of opera, its characters use the vocal ranges of popular song, and the songs themselves often use the rhythms and tempos of pop music. Shouldn't we therefore sweep it away, into the category of stage musicals? In the end, it's a judgement call.

Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1836-1911); Librettist, William Schwenck Gilbert (1842-1900):
• Trial by Jury (1875)
• The Sorcerer (1877)
• H.M.S. Pinafore, or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor (1878)
• The Pirates of Penzance, or, The Slave of Duty (1879)
• Iolanthe, or, The Peer and the Peri (1882)
• The Mikado, or, The Town of Titipu (1885)
• The Yeomen of the Guard, or, The Merryman and his Maid (1888)
• The Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria (1889)

Bumpf

A Calgary-based writer, author and historian, during the last two decades Peter McKenzie-Brown has done work for several corporate clients and also for industry and business publications – notably the trade magazines Oilweek and Oilsands Review. Prior to beginning his writing career, he worked for the Canadian Petroleum Association (CPA, a forerunner to CAPP, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) and the Canadian branch of Gulf Oil.

British by birth, he is American by upbringing and Canadian by choice. In middle age (some years back) he completed the Ironman Triathlon eleven times – twice in Hawaii, the other times in Penticton, British Columbia.

He recently posted his book Teach and Learn: Reflections on Communicative Language Teaching on Kindle. Click here to enjoy.

Prior to serving as a coordinator and interviewer for the Petroleum History Society’s Oil Sands Oral History Project, he was a recipient of that society’s Lifetime Achievement award. Two of his books - Footprints: The Evolution of Land Conservation and Reclamation in Alberta and Bitumen: The People, Performance and Passions behind Alberta's Oil Sands - have also received that award.